As #TCMParty people and/or readers of this blog may or may not know, I’m obsessed with the 1947 mystery-drama Lured. Sure, the presence of one of my favorite velvet-voiced British thespians, George Sanders, has a lot to do with it. But its major charm is Lucille Ball’s fine performance in the lead role, which, while allowing flickers of her comedic genius to show through, always makes me wish she’d done more dramatic roles.
The Rise and Rise of Alesha Dixon
As regular readers know, I sometimes stray away from the mainstay topic of this blog — film — into music of all kinds. Obviously, the two have been tied since film’s birth. One aspect of both industries that has fascinated me for some time is the odd relationship between the U.S. and the U.K., our highly influential older siblings with the cool accents, who seem to have even cooler record collections, more avant-garde taste in movies, and cutting-edge fashion senses. And yet, for every British artist in any medium that slays Stateside, either by popularity or influence — and the list of those is endless — there are some, for whatever reason, that just don’t click. This is also true of celebrity/entertainment culture in general…some U.K. celebs cross the pond to become household names in the U.S….and others just don’t catch on here. For every Graham Norton or Ricky Gervais, there’s a Cheryl Cole or Robbie Williams.
I’m not sure which category Alesha Dixon will fall into, or if she’s even interested in U.S. success, but at the moment, she is one of the most recognizable women on U.K. television. As an admired presenter and judge on prime-time shows, she’s known to millions of viewers, as well as being a talented singer and dancer, lending her more versatility and overall credibility than many others in the “unscripted” field.
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Final Week of 31 Days Of Oscar Blogathon: PICTURES/DIRECTORS
31 Days of Oscar, Week 4: THE MOVIES and THE DIRECTORS
It’s been a fabulous month of entries in our mega blogging event that celebrates everything Oscar. We’ve paid tribute to extraordinary ACTING, expressed outrage over OSCAR SNUBS, celebrated those talented CRAFTS artisans and now… we’ve come to our final week as we pay homage to Oscar-worthy PICTURES and master DIRECTORS.
Just like those last few nail-biting minutes of the Oscars ceremony, let’s honor the very best of the best. Here are this week’s terrific contributors:
PICTURES:
Old Hollywood Films reviews one of John Ford must beautiful masterpieces, “How Green Was My Valley”
Movie Rob revisits some of Oscar’s most popular films… TITANTIC (1997), FORREST GUMP (1994), SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998), THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946), THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
Sister Celluloid shares an intimate and fond memory of her father via celluloid with “Saying Goodbye to my Dad…
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31 Days of Oscar: The Films of 1987
Greetings all and sundry!
Having taken advantage of the much-hyped East Coast Snow Storm, and watched from my 23rd floor balcony as the surface dwellers dug themselves out, I’ve had time to contemplate the films of 1987 and their standing with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
A year sadly near void of the earlier risk takers and “All In!” gamblers of the previous decade, with many of the Academy choices leading toward less controversial, more palatable fare. So, keeping that in mind, allow me a few moments of your time to explore, excavate, and investigate the confusing, sometimes annoying choices of…
The 60th Academy Awards: Playing It Safe!
According to Box Office Mojo, a neat little reference source which proves useful in this treatise, 1987 was a rather prosperous year for film. With 238 entrants through the year, from the sublime (The Princess Bride) to the ridiculous (Ishtar, Real Men, Death Wish 4: The Crackdown), lots of diversions and variants in-between, and a surprising number of films in its Top 25 films nominated for Oscars.
For those uninitiated, I’ll be laying out this amalgam in the same way I’ve presented earlier critiques of the Academy’s decisions, entailing “The Top Six” categories, taking a “Top Down” perspective, plus a few personal bones to pick in the lower tiers.
So, without further ado, let’s start with the contenders for….
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31 Days of Oscar- THE CRAFTS: Costume Designer Sandy Powell
While scrutinizing this year’s official Academy Award class photo, my eye was immediately drawn to red…not just those few actresses wearing scarlet-hued dresses, but also the neon crimson hair of costume designer Sandy Powell. It’s appropriate that color would draw the eye to her, as she used it to create some of this year’s most stunning and effective costume designs, including the instant classic Cinderella gown made up of many layers of painstakingly dyed blue fabrics. She is pitted against herself with two 2015 nominations, one for Carol, the other for Cinderella. Not so coincidentally, in both she dressed Cate Blanchett. The last time the two worked together, for 2004’s The Aviator, both took home Oscars (Blanchett for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn).
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31 Days of Oscar, Week 3: THE CRAFTS
We’re now just past the halfway point of both Turner Classic Movies channel’s Academy Awards tribute, 31 DAYS OF OSCAR, and the 31 DAYS OF OSCAR Blogathon, hosted annually by myself here at Paula’s Cinema Club, Kellee of Outspoken and Freckled, and Aurora at Once Upon A Screen.
This week we salute the less renowned, but nonetheless essential, disciplines of movie-making…THE CRAFTS. Those who practice them are below the title in billing yet are decidedly indispensable to the overall effect of a film. Check out the fabulous Week 3 posts after the jump!
OSCAR SNUBS of the 31 Days Of Oscar Blogathon are here!
Week 2 of the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon examines THE SNUBS…great posts here, check them out….
Source: OSCAR SNUBS of the 31 Days Of Oscar Blogathon are here!
#31DaysOfOscar Blogathon THE ACTORS!
31 Days of Oscar Actors Week, hosted by Aurora at Once Upon A Screen…check out all the fabulous posts….
Once Upon a Screen is honored to host the inaugural entry for this year’s 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon with tributes to THE ACTORS!
To review the complete roster and topic details for the 2016 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon be sure to visit the original announcement. There is a lot to look forward to as the 31 Days heat up so stay tuned to Outspoken & Freckled, Paula’s Cinema Club as well as this blog as we commemorate bloggers who honor Oscar through the years. And since this event was inspired by TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar festival I must insist you tune in and watch Oscar-winning movies scheduled by actor connections through March 2nd.
Blog roll call:
– we’re starting this year’s event with a short list of distinction so I’ll get right to it.
The nominees for Best Submission by a Blogger dedicated to THE ACTORS! are…
Old Hollywood Films with a delicious look…
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Announcing the 31 Days of Oscar 2016 Blogathon
“I’m very enthusiastic about the Academy Awards because if there were no Oscars, we wouldn’t have as many good movies as we do have.” – Robert Osborne
The Oscars — both maligned and praised — are always cause for celebration and we’re here to do just that.
For the fourth consecutive year Paula’s Cinema Club (my Twitter handle @Paula_Guthat) joins forces with Kellee (@IrishJayHawk66) of Outspoken & Freckled and Aurora (@CitizenScreen) of Once Upon A Screen for the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon, running February 6-27, 2016. We started this event to coincide with Turner Classic Movie’s 31 Days of Oscar marathon, during which the network shines the spotlight on the storied history of the Academy Awards. All the deets, including participating blogs & their chosen topics, after the jump…
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Top 30 (more or less) tunes of 2015
I totally ran out of time for a year-end music post in 2014 (the last one was published in 2013), but they are just too much fun to put together, so here’s the 2015 edition. The cutoff is 50 or more plays (as in previous years, the source here is my iTunes). These are songs that I loved this year; though some were released before 2015, but almost all of these reached triple-digit plays. I don’t do a lot of description of these, they are in no particular order, and linking instead of embedding is not indicative of preference (it just means I couldn’t get it to embed). I feel like if you actually take a chance by clicking and listening to the songs, you’ll hear why they made the list. There’s a WTF factor to some of my choices, so go ahead…read on and judge away after the jump. You can also check out the 2012 list.
